Total pages in book: 20
Estimated words: 19091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 95(@200wpm)___ 76(@250wpm)___ 64(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 19091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 95(@200wpm)___ 76(@250wpm)___ 64(@300wpm)
“You lied. You’re staying in that damn caravan over Christmas. Alone.” His full mouth pressed into a disapproving hard line.
I shrugged. “You’re staying alone.”
“In a fully insulated home. Not a tin can off the coast of the North Sea.”
I rolled my eyes. “Exaggeration.”
“It’s snowing!” he yelled and then seemed to remember we were in public.
“I’ll be fine,” I promised, not wanting his or anyone else’s pity. “And it’s temporary. My offer was accepted on a bungalow yesterday. Happy Christmas.” I darted around him before he could stop me and practically ran toward my parked Audi.
However, I couldn’t resist looking up the now snow-crested street. Haydyn stood under the dim glow of a streetlight, staring in my direction. An ache of pure longing filled me as I remembered how he’d been on Halloween. How our night together was the first night since my life blew apart that I’d felt happy. Like I’d found home again.
Blanching at how wrong I’d been, I dove into my car. Yet as I made my way carefully through the falling snow toward the coast, the memories cascaded over me, anyway.
Two
Kenna
Three months ago
Halloween, Ardnoch
“That’s Grant and his mum!” Michael yelled from the living room.
Hearing the childish panic in his voice, I darted around his room looking for those damn twin ninja daggers me and his dad had been reluctant to buy for his costume. Seeing the plastic blades peeking out from under his bed, I grabbed them. “Found them!”
Rushing out into the living room, I tried not to smile at how cute Michael looked as a dragon ninja. I’d spent hours on YouTube watching tutorials on how to paint scales onto his cheeks and forehead. Makeup littered the kitchen island, his dirty dinner plate on the counter, and he’d somehow managed to dump half the contents of his bedroom into the living area.
“Thanks!” Michael beamed up at me.
A few minutes later, Grant and Innes were in the house. Grant was also dressed as a dragon ninja, but his scales were blue while Michael’s were green. He also didn’t have face-painted scales, much to his chagrin.
“Thanks for outparenting me,” Innes teased. “I’ll never hear the end of this.”
I chuckled as the boys stood together for the photos I insisted on taking. “You work full time, Innes. It’s amazing what you accomplish.”
“Thanks for saying that.” She grinned at the boys as Michael slung an arm around Grant’s shoulders and they posed with their plastic twin daggers. “The school is going to murder us if anything happens with those daggers.”
“Or take them off them before they even get past the doors.”
“Great,” she muttered. “I’m looking forward to two very annoyed dragon ninjas if that happens.”
Laughing, I took a few quick photos. Unfortunately, Haydyn was working late, so he’d asked me to make sure I got some snaps of Michael before he left for the school Halloween dance. Michael wouldn’t be back tonight as it was a Friday and he’d be sleeping over at Grant’s after the party.
We were making sure Michael had everything he needed for his sleepover when a car pulled into the drive. Ears perking, Michael rushed away from me to the window. His whole being lit up. “Dad’s home!”
Warmth filled my chest as I watched Haydyn hurry out of his SUV. He must have gotten out of his meeting early so he wouldn’t miss Michael. For the last few months, I’d watched Haydyn juggle a full schedule as a senior lecturer at the university, as a researcher, and as a freelance advisor on projects, not just around the UK but internationally. He did all that as a single parent. Yes, he hired a nanny because his life would be impossible otherwise, but I saw how hard he worked to make sure Michael never felt like he was missing out.
I’d found him physically attractive from the moment we met, but getting to know him had only intensified that attraction.
My stomach fluttered like a schoolgirl’s as Haydyn burst through the door just as Michael flew at him. He laughed, embracing his son tightly before holding him back to study his costume. “Well, don’t you look amazing!”
“I thought you were working.” Michael grinned up at him.
Haydyn gently gripped his son’s chin to tilt his face in the light. “I had to see my dragon ninja, didn’t I? And look at you. You look awesome.”
“Kenna did my scales. They’re sick.”
Haydyn sighed wearily at Michael’s use of the word sick but grinned, nonetheless. “So they are.”
“We better get going,” Innes said, nudging Grant toward the door.
“I’ll pick Michael up tomorrow.” Haydyn stepped aside.
“I promised them breakfast at Flora’s, so there’s no rush.”
“Okay, thanks, Innes.”
“Bye, Kenna!” Michael waved at me and rushed out the door.
As soon as it closed on them, Haydyn turned and surveyed the room before his eyes fell on me.
There was that stupid fluttering again. I shrugged sheepishly. “I wasn’t going to leave it like this for you. Let me tidy up.”